The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is seeking to set up a new fund to handle dirty cash facilitating preservation of assets in the custody of the investigating agency.
The fund, known as the Public Prosecutions Fund, is expected to receive proceeds of crime and use them for supporting the criminal justice system in Kenya.
“The public prosecutions fund will have the objective of supporting and facilitating the tracing, forfeiture or recovery of assets, supporting and facilitating other government agencies collaborating or assisting the office in tracing, forfeiture or recovery of assets, facilitating the preservation of assets in the custody of the investigating agency, supporting the development and operationalisation of a centralised case management and information system among other related activities,” states Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi in the draft Public Finance Management (public prosecutions fund) Regulations, 2024.
The fund shall consist of amounts of money from proceeds of plea-bargaining, preservation orders, incidental compensation, restitution orders, and deferred prosecutions. The National Assembly is also expected to appropriate monies to the fund which is also allowed to raise funding from grants and donations and income generated from investments of the fund.
An advisory board will oversee the operations of the fund and shall consist of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Attorney-General, the National Treasury Principal Secretary, and the Inspector General.
A CEO shall meanwhile oversee the administration of the fund and shall be appointed by the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary.
The person appointed as CEO shall serve a single non-renewable term of five years and shall work alongside the secretariat of the fund.
The fund is expected to invest surpluses in government securities while its expenditure and commitments shall not exceed its annual income.
The creation of the fund is expected to bolster the mandate of the ODPP in fighting raft and other transnational organised and complex crimes.
The ODPP was established following the 2010 Constitution and is mandated to institute and undertake prosecution of criminal matters.
“The ODPP is not only determined to prosecute suspects but also recover stolen funds and proceeds of crime for the benefit of the Kenyan people. The proceeds of crime that have been unlawfully acquired will be traced, recovered, confiscated, and restored through plea bargaining, diversion, deferred agreements, compensation, and restitution,” notes a summary of the draft regulations.